


Integration By Parts

by amiasha



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Gen Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2018-04-19 11:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amiasha/pseuds/amiasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been six years since the defeat of BelialVamdemon, and with the Digital World seemingly at peace the Chosen are focused on living their lives as normally as is possible for them. However, there are other dimensions far less stable than the Digital World, and the borders between the planes are weakening…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first major fanfiction in… Uh… Years? But Digimon sucked me back in, and so I’m giving this fic thing a shot once again. Please feel free to leave me comments or message me! I want to know what you think. ♥

“We’re going to be late.”

Taichi looked up from his shoelaces to fake glower at Koushirou for a few seconds in response, returning his attention to what he was doing. “Stop nagging; we’ve got time. You don’t even want to go, so what’s the rush?”

Koushirou sipped his energy drink for a moment, clearly unimpressed by the question, before deciding to go ahead and answer it anyway. “It’s mandatory, Taichi. Not wanting to attend doesn’t mean we can simply not do so.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve said that.” Taichi complained in response, straightening up and stepping forward to pluck the can out of Koushirou’s hand. He earned a blink of surprise and then a wordless sputter of offense from his friend in return, both of which were promptly ignored. “Aren’t you supposed to stop drinking these?”

“I’m supposed to drink less of them.” Koushirou admitted, tugging gently on the can which Taichi relinquished dubiously.

“It’s 7:30 AM.”

“I’m aware of that. That’s why we’re going to be late.”

Taichi sighed loudly and rolled his eyes but decided to let it go for then, especially as Koushirou had managed to turn the conversation back to their impending deadline. “Fine, whatever. Let’s go get this over with.”

The two gathered up their school bags and stepped out of the dorm, Koushirou waiting a few steps down the hall for Taichi to lock the door and catch up before they continued toward the stairs. It wasn’t a long walk from their dorm to the building that was holding the seminar they were supposed to attend, so Taichi still wasn’t convinced they were late, but part of being a good leader was knowing when to pick his battles.

They continued in silence, Taichi mentally planning out the day while Koushirou typed on his iPhone with one hand and kept sipping his energy drink with the other. They had this seminar first, along with—presumably—Yamato, Sora, and Mimi, and then all five would go separate ways for classes. Fortunately Taichi had no work that day, but he needed to call Hikari after class to check in with her on the outreach program for newly partnered Digimon pairs. It had been six years since the younger team of Chosen had defeated BelialVamdemon, but after the first several months the rate at which individuals had been being matched with Digimon had slowed down. There were still plenty of people, even after six years, that were just finding their teammates.

The Yagami siblings handled much of helping out these new pairs, Taichi primarily dealing with older individuals and Hikari with children. That meant Hikari did the majority of the work, but Taichi still had his hands full when combined with all of his other responsibilities. Being a full time university student wasn’t easy, after all.

It had been worse the first year, though, while Koushirou was finishing high school; Taichi hadn’t been alone—Yamato and Sora had started at Keio University the same year he had—but his first year he’d been paired up with a randomly selected roommate, and it had been something of a disaster. Taichi considered himself pretty easy-going and he generally got along with almost everyone he met, but he’d been ready to murder his roommate after half a week and the feeling had been mutual. It had been a tense and awkward couple of semesters, and Taichi couldn’t have been more relieved when Koushirou said he was turning down his acceptance to Tokyo University—where Jyou was studying medicine—to attend Keio University instead.

Spring semester had just started the week before and Taichi steadfastly maintained it should really be called Winter semester; this belief was only reaffirmed when he and Koushirou stepped out of the dorm to a blast of icy wind and the crunch of a thin layer of ice covering the sidewalk.

“Nice day out.” Taichi commented, earning a dry look from Koushirou in response, which he countered with a grin as he stepped fearlessly onto the ice. “Hey, I’ll race you.”

“No, Taichi.” Koushirou said, his tone a perfect blend of polite and long-suffering that Taichi was still not sure how was possible. He supposed after all this time of having him for a best friend it was only natural Koushirou could manage a blend of politeness and whatever exasperated emotion he felt at the time, and ultimately Taichi was just glad Koushirou had finally, finally dropped the “–san” honorific from his name.

It had only taken nearly ten years.

“Fine, fine. But someday we’re going to have an ice race.” Taichi responded, passing Koushirou—who was walking carefully on the ice, probably so he wouldn’t slip and drop his ridiculously expensive phone—to lead the way toward the corner. A familiar pair of twenty-year olds were waiting for them, Sora’s orange hair shimmering in the one patch of sunlight that peeked out from behind the clouds, Yamato’s blond hair in contrast mostly hidden under a black knit beanie. Taichi had teased him about the hat before, but Yamato insisted that beanies were cool and that Taichi was just jealous he couldn’t fit his own hair into a hat.

The scene caused by that exchange was immortalized forever in the pictures Mimi had immediately posted on the internet. It turned out Yamato was right about Taichi’s hair not fitting in a hat after all.

“Hey! Ready to go?” Sora asked once Taichi and Koushirou had reached them, offering a smile at them both before her lips suddenly curved into a frown in Koushirou’s direction and she gave the can he was holding a pointed look.

“I told you.” Taichi informed Koushirou before brushing by to talk to Yamato, ignoring the beginning of Sora’s lecture and Koushirou’s lame protests in favor of addressing his friend. “How many classes have you got today, Yamato?”

“Just two, besides this seminar.” Yamato responded, similarly ignoring his girlfriend and Koushirou, beginning down the sidewalk toward Mimi’s dorm. “Physics at ten, then Anthropology at one. You?”

“I’ve got two also, but the first one isn’t until twelve.” This stupid mandatory informational session was completely inconvenient, which only added to the annoyance of having to attend it in the first place. Taichi wasn’t even sure what it was about; some sort of informational session for people living on campus. Probably teaching them how to do laundry or something.

He glanced back as Koushirou and Sora caught up, the former now down one energy drink and seemingly sulking a little bit even as Sora was promising to buy him a coffee instead once they got to campus. Taichi rolled his eyes in fond exasperation before returning his attention to Yamato again, who gave a small noise of amusement before responding to Taichi’s previous comment. “Are you sharing classes with any of us this semester?”

“I think I have one with Mimi.” Taichi responded, nodding. Mimi wasn’t sure yet of her major and so was getting her general education classes out of the way, one of which Taichi hadn’t taken yet. Some writing class that Taichi wasn’t sure he was all too excited about having to do but couldn’t get out of. “Composition or something.”

Yamato nodded thoughtfully, but before he could offer a response they were joined by a pastel pink blur of a Chosen Child. Mimi grinned at them, her winter coat the source of the influx of pink, and her long honey hair streaked with snow white extensions. She seemed totally unbothered by the weather or the early hour, cheerful as ever. “Hey guys!”

“Hey, Mimi.” Taichi grinned back, the enthusiasm contagious, at least for him. The quieter three of their group offered greetings as well, just not as enthusiastically, which didn’t seem to faze Mimi any more than the weather did. “Ready for… Whatever this thing is?”

“Of course I am. They’re offering free breakfast!” Mimi responded, as if that were the entire point of the class in the first place. Now that this information was revealed, Taichi was inclined to agree.

“There’s gonna be food?” He asked, suddenly a whole lot more into this whole idea. “I didn’t know that!”

He pointedly ignored Yamato’s mutter to Sora and Koushirou of, “Some things never change.” It was hard to take seriously when he knew Yamato was not-so-secretly pleased by the idea of food as well.

The five of them chattered the rest of the walk to campus and as they looked for the correct building, only quieting once they found the packed lecture hall. They only had a few minutes before the seminar would start—Koushirou had been right to be concerned about being late, no surprise there—but fortunately there was not only the promised breakfast but even some food left. They’d have to split up to find seats, but at least they had donuts and coffee.

“You know, that’s just bad as the energy drink thing.” Taichi commented as he gathered up four donuts, his words addressed toward Koushirou. Yamato, Mimi, and Sora had all quickly snagged some food and found seats, but Taichi was being picky about donuts and Koushirou seemed intent on drinking the entire carafe of coffee.

Koushirou gave him a look around the paper coffee cup he was chugging from, finishing the coffee and refilling it again. Taichi was pretty sure that was cup three, and so once it was full Taichi grabbed the shoulder of Koushirou’s coat and began steering him toward an empty pair of seats near the back. “Here, have some food with your caffeine, at least.” He added, shoving a donut at the redhead before taking his own seat and starting on a donut as well.

This time the look Koushirou gave him was actually followed up by a response, although it was quiet one so their classmates wouldn’t overhear. “You don’t need to worry so much.”

Taichi was quiet a moment in return, the corner of his mouth tugging into a frown and his donuts temporarily forgotten, but he decided to let it go for then as a speaker stepped up onto the stage to begin whatever this lecture was supposed to be about. He and Koushirou lived together, so they could take up this conversation again later.

His guess of the seminar being about laundry wasn’t terribly far off. It was some sort of “campus living” thing, going over the basics of balancing a checkbook and cooking meals and other similar nonsense that Taichi was pretty sure was meant for people that hadn’t survived several months in another world when they were elementary students. Koushirou seemed to share his sentiments, judging from the fact that he was scrolling through something on his iPhone rather than paying any attention, and Taichi just sighed and returned to his donuts. At least he got something out of this waste of time.

The lecture seemed to drag on forever and Taichi was on the verge of falling asleep in his chair when the sound of thunder jolted him back fully to awareness. Koushirou seemed similarly startled, as did most of the hall, including the speaker who had paused his droning on reflex.

“Thunder snow?” Taichi asked, after a moment, and Koushirou nodded with furrowed eyebrows.

“Probably, yes.” It wasn’t a super rare phenomena or anything, but still unexpected. Taichi learned over his friend’s shoulder as Koushirou began pulling up the radar on his phone, while the lecturer returned to rambling.

It didn’t last long as there was soon another boom of thunder, accompanied by the lights flickering once before going out completely. Phones lit up immediately around the hall, as well as a few mini flashlights, including the one on Taichi’s keychain which he panned around to see if he could spot wherever Yamato, Sora, and Mimi had chosen to sit.

“Stay calm, everyone.” The lecturer said, although he didn’t sound all that calm himself. “There seems to be a storm going on, but I’m sure the power will only be out a short time.”

“Right.” Taichi muttered, unimpressed, completely ignoring the speaker just as the rest of the hall was. He caught sight of Sora with Yamato down near the front of the hall and Mimi in the row behind the pair, leaning over the back of their seats to talk to them. Satisfied that he knew where they were, Taichi glanced back at Koushirou again. “Got the radar up?”

Koushirou shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. “No. I don’t have any service, probably from the storm.”

This just got better and better. Oh well, they didn’t need a radar to see how the weather looked when they had windows, and Taichi moved to get to his feet.

“Where are you going?” Koushirou asked, but he was already moving to follow Taichi without waiting for the answer. He’d probably already figured it out, but Taichi answered anyway.

“To take a look outside. There’s no point in sitting here in the dark.” He said, leading the way toward the doors and joined by several other students who had the same idea. The lecturer gave a half-hearted attempt to stop them, but then just settled with asking them to come back into the room once the lights turned back on.

It was just as dark in the rest of the building as it was in the lecture hall, but that was even more ominous considering there were several large glass windows that should’ve been letting light in, even with a storm going on. Instead it looked almost like night, the windows rattling with the wind and a mixture of hail and sleet.

“Stay away from the windows.” Koushirou said, correctly predicting Taichi’s plan of getting close enough to more or less smash his face against the glass. Taichi was tempted to do so anyway, wanting to get a better look at the sky, but hung back for the moment as Koushirou continued. “The storm looks really strong…”

Taichi nodded in agreement, but he knew from Koushirou’s tone that the redhead was thinking the same thing he was; something wasn’t quite right. “It’s too dark.”

Koushirou nodded as well, about to respond when Yamato stepped up beside them along with Sora and Mimi. It was clear from their flashlight-lit expressions that they felt the same way as Taichi and Koushirou, although Mimi was the first to say it. “Is it just me, or does it look like more than just a storm?”

“If it’s not just a storm then what is it?” Sora asked, but it was clear from her tone that she wasn’t actually objecting to Mimi’s words.

Before anyone could answer there was a blinding flash of lightning and an almost instantaneous boom of thunder, the windows shaking again from the force of it. Yamato frowned in concern, beginning to echo Koushirou’s previous words. “I think we should stay away from—“

The windows shattered in a sudden crash, glass spraying through the halls, followed immediately by wind and sleet. Taichi pulled Koushirou and Mimi toward him on reflex, trying to shield them from the worst of the glass as Yamato did the same with Sora, and as soon as it had blown over he raised his voice over the wind to ask if everyone was okay. He was met with a round of affirmatives, a few scratches here and there but the worst of it stopped by their thick coats and, somewhat humorously, Yamato’s beanie. The blond pulled a large piece of glass out of his hat with an irritated scowl and dropped it to the ground in disgust.

The storm hadn’t been quiet before, but without the windows it was as if a hurricane was upon them, and Taichi suddenly wondered if that wasn’t exactly what it was. The yelling of other students didn’t help, but there was reason for the yelling as several people had been cut by the shattered windows. He scanned the crowd quickly, looking for anyone who might need immediate help, but luckily it seemed everything was superficial and most of the students were already rushing back into the lecture hall to avoid the sleet.

Taichi ushered his team in after them, pulling the heavy doors shut behind them; that blocked out the sleet and some of the noise, but it was almost as loud in the large room from just the other students’ voices. The lecturer was trying futilely to calm everyone, but he was just as lame as he had been before and Taichi could only listen to a few seconds of sputtered reassurances into the battery-powered microphone before he couldn’t take any more of it.

“I’ll be right back.” He told the other Chosen, getting nods in return before he began shoving past other students to get to the stage. The lecturer seemed stunned by his sudden appearance, and Taichi took the opportunity to liberate the microphone from his grasp without a word. Instead Taichi addressed the other students, his commanding voice echoing through the room even over another crack of thunder.

“Hey, everyone, stay calm. We’re all safe in here. Is anyone seriously hurt?” The students, which had gone generally quiet at the sound of Taichi’s voice, stayed so after the question; Taichi took that as a no when combined with the shaking heads he could make out in the dark. “Okay, good. Everyone just chill out until the storm dies down.” He paused a moment after the order before adding with a grin, “Maybe classes’ll be cancelled.”

“They better be!” Someone shouted from the crowd, earning some nervous laughter from the other students, and with his job done Taichi shoved the microphone back into the lecturer’s hands before leaving the stage to return to the other Chosen.

“Couldn’t resist, could you.” Yamato asked, not really as a question, and not actually as disapproving as his tone might suggest.

“Someone had to do something.” Taichi offered in return, shrugging and picking a piece of glass out of his coat. “Guess the teacher wasn’t as prepared for campus living as he thought.”

That earned a snicker from Mimi and an amused eyeroll from Sora, which was about as much approval as Taichi could expect his stupid remarks to get. So he was quite pleased with himself, at least for a few seconds before he caught sight of Koushirou’s expression; his roommate looked stunned, eyes wide and face pale, staring at something over the stage. Taichi didn’t even have a chance to follow his gaze before Koushirou had snapped out of it, speaking quickly just as students began yelling once again.

“It’s a Digimon!”

Taichi, Sora, Mimi, and Yamato whirled in the direction of the stage, training their lights on it and not quite sure what they were expecting to see—other than, presumably, a Digimon—but still shocked at the scene before them. It wasn’t just a Digimon, it was a massive one; Gigadramon, Taichi distantly registered, the giant dragon-like creature curled up on the stage like a snake that was just waking up from a nap. The lecturer was fortunately better at running than at public speaking, taking off down the rows of seats with a panicked shout, as the Gigadramon spread its wings and prepared to take off.

“Everyone get down!” Taichi shouted, as loud as his voice would carry, Yamato’s own similar order coming only a moment later. The students, to their credit, threw themselves down on the ground immediately just as the Gigadramon took off, the Digimon seemingly uninterested in the humans around it as it blasted through the ceiling and into the dark sky.

For a few seconds there was no sound except for the storm, everyone in the now cold and wet lecture hall stunned into silence, and once again it was Taichi’s voice that cut through the air first.

“I told you we shouldn’t have come to this class.”

Koushirou’s protest was immediate, even if he couldn’t quite match Taichi’s volume. “It was mandatory!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um... Surprise?
> 
> So the release of Tri totally threw off my writing game, as much as I've been loving Tri so far; it took me awhile to decide what I wanted to do with this fic going forward, as well as how much characterization I wanted to include from Tri into what I'm doing here. But I think I've got the idea down, although no promises on updates; I'll try not to wait another two years (omg self...) but yeah.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

“It wasn’t storming there at all?” Taichi asked, unsure if he’d heard his sister wrong, because that didn’t make sense. Sure it was some distance from Keio University to the Yagami residence even though both places were in in Tokyo, but it wasn’t far enough to explain Hikari’s report of sunny skies.

Hikari nodded, Takeru, Ken, and Daisuke all visible in the webcam feed as well as they leaned over her shoulders. Taichi’s side was even more cramped, with all five of the Keio Team—as Taichi had jokingly named them—gathered around one of Koushirou’s computers for the online call. It had taken an hour for the group to manage to exit the lecture hall, having to stop to make sure the other students were okay and then try to figure out if they were going to brave the storm to get back to their dorms. The decision had been made for them soon enough as the storm cleared up as quickly as it had begun, leaving behind cold and cloudy skies devoid of any hints of flying Digimon.

They’d decided to regroup at Taichi and Koushirou’s dorm and sent out messages to the rest of the Chosen about what had happened, but only the four high-schoolers on the webcam had been available to actually discuss what might be going on during a break between their classes.

“I told you, oniichan. It’s been a little windy but it hasn’t stormed; definitely not like what you described.” Hikari confirmed, looking worried about the entire situation. “We haven’t seen the Gigadramon either, or any other Digimon…”

“Our classmates saw it, so it wasn’t just an ‘us’ thing.” Mimi chimed in. “So I guess that means it’s actually real, not us seeing something special…”

“It’s really lucky no one was seriously hurt.” Takeru said, looking just as concerned as Hikari did.

“Yeah, no casualties except Yamato’s hat.” Taichi said in mock solemnity, which earned a half-hearted shove from Yamato in return. 

Koushirou didn’t seem too pleased with the roughhousing, mostly because there were computers scattered almost everywhere in the dorm, but he didn’t protest. Still, Taichi noted it was probably best not to push it; Koushirou was the one who paid for most of their expenses after all, and he did so by repairing said scattered computers. A lot of the students on campus had figured out Koushirou was not only much better at repairs than the campus-offered service but could actually get their computers back to them in a reasonable amount of time, and Taichi had made the suggestion for Koushirou to charge for repairs instead of just doing them; Koushirou didn’t need the money, being at school on scholarship and his parents providing more than enough spending cash, but it was the principle of the thing.

He hadn’t quite expected Koushirou to turn around and pay off the rest of Taichi’s semester fees with the money he made, covering what Taichi hadn’t been able to manage from his part-time work combined what his parents were able to offer. Once Taichi realized what had happened he’d tried to protest, but Koushirou had simply told him they were in this whole university thing together.

Taichi was still trying to figure out how to pay Koushirou back in a way that his friend would actually accept.

For now, though, he could at least keep anyone from stepping on the computers, so he turned his attention back toward the webcam and shifted his tone to serious once more. “Okay so there was no storm, but nothing else weird happened over there?”

“We haven’t seen anything, Taichi-san.” Ken responded quietly, with a shake of his head. “No unusual signals from the Digital world either. Everything seems normal.”

“We should go looking for the Gigadramon.” Daisuke suggested, clearly not interested in discussing their lack of information instead of acting. “It’s gotta’ be somewhere, and it’s huge. How hard can it be?”

“While I’m normally all for skipping class—“ That earned a sideways and extremely flat look from Koushirou which Taichi ignored, “—it’s a little different for you guys. You can’t just bail on a school day. We’ll search around here as much as we can, and when school’s done for you guys grab Miyako-chan and Iori-kun and then you can help us out.”

“Got it, oniichan.” Hikari said with a nod, and although Daisuke looked a little put-out by having to wait he still nodded his understanding, as did Takeru and Ken.

“Ken-kun, please message me immediately if you notice anything strange in regards to your D3s or the Digital World.” Koushirou added, getting another determined nod from Ken in response.

“I will, Koushirou-san.”

“Alright guys, we’ll check in with you later.” Taichi said, and after a round of goodbyes Koushirou disconnected the call. 

“So what now?” Sora asked, turning her gaze toward Taichi.

“We look around ourselves.” Taichi responded with a bit of a grin to preface his next words. “Our classes were cancelled, after all.”

“Thankfully.” Yamato agreed, brushing at the already fraying ends of a glass-made cut in his coat. “I wasn’t interested in going to Physics today.”

Koushirou looked as if he was about to comment on the importance of attending classes for a field one was considering majoring in, but Mimi jumped in before he could get started. “Are we going together or splitting up?”

That was a good question, and four pairs of eyes focused on Taichi to await his decision. He considered it several seconds, but one option was clearly better than the others. “We’ll split up. I doubt any of us are going to run into the Gigadramon anyway, but we can cover more ground in teams.” And without their own Digimon there was no safety benefit of staying together; all five of them wouldn’t stand any chance against a Perfect level Digimon anyway.

The others nodded in agreement, having come to similar conclusions on their own. “Mimi, you can come with Koushirou and me; Yamato and Sora, we’ll all give you two some alone time~” Taichi continued, unable to resist the teasing jab at the end. 

“Yeah, because monster-hunting is so romantic.” Sora volleyed back with a roll of her eyes, saving the slightly-flustered Yamato from having to respond himself. “We’ll take the south side of campus and the surrounding area, then.”

“Alright, we’ve got the north side.” Taichi responded, glancing to the side to see if his team had any objections; he wasn’t too surprised to see that they didn’t, Koushirou looking up something on his phone and Mimi re-lacing one of her tall boots. He looked back at Yamato and continued. “We should check in with each other every so often, just to make sure nothing goes wrong without the other team knowing to help.”

“Text every twenty minutes, and call if we see something important?” Sora suggested, and was met with nods of approval from the others. 

“Once we’re finished searching, we’ll meet up back here.” Taichi agreed, reaching into his pocket to find his keys and tossing them to Sora. “Let’s go.”

* * *

It wasn’t much surprise that the search was turning up very little. Taichi’s team had been wandering the north side of campus for the past forty minutes, looking for any signs of strangeness, but they had yet to find anything even approaching suspicious let alone as obvious as a gigantic Digimon. None of the few scattered students who were still around after the cancellation of classes had seen anything strange either, though the rumors of what had happened had travelled quickly.

Yamato and Sora had also found nothing, judging from their texts, the most recent of which had come in about four minutes earlier. Taichi was about to call their own search done, but they still had the furthest northern part of their designated area left to cover.

Mimi was clearly already done with the search herself, however; although she was still trekking along, her earlier cheer had worn off. Taichi guessed it had something to do with the high heels on her boots, although part of it was also surely that it was past time for a breakfast that was better than donuts. Koushirou was similarly dragging a bit, though he still seemed interested in what they were doing and was coordinating keeping in contact with Sora, as well as trading texts with Takeru whenever the younger boy had a chance to sneak in a message while his teacher wasn’t looking.

“After we’re done checking out the field let’s grab breakfast before we head back.” Taichi suggested, breaking the silence of the last few minutes and glancing back at his friends to gauge their opinions on the idea. Mimi’s bright grin and the fact that Koushirou actually took his gaze off his phone’s screen told Taichi pretty clearly that the two were on board with this plan.

The thought of food cheering Taichi up as well, he turned his attention forward again with renewed determination as they reached the football stadium, entering the large structure and soon emerging on the field. It was, unsurprisingly, empty; with classes out and the weather so uninviting there was no one interested in sports practice. Taichi hadn’t been expecting to find the Gigadramon here either, though it would’ve been a decent place to hide.

“Guess that’s everywhere.” He declared, after a moment, turning his back on the field to face Koushirou and Mimi. “Koushirou, let Sora know we’re done with the search and we’re detouring so get some food.” It’d be best if Sora and Yamato weren’t waiting for them at the dorm; Taichi didn’t have any interest in hearing a lecture about being inconsiderate.  
Koushirou nodded, swiping his thumb across his phone screen to wake it up and begin sending the message, while Mimi took the opportunity to sit down on a bench and rest her feet. She was a little more focused on their mission than Taichi had given her credit for, however, as she soon spoke up in frustration. “It can’t have just disappeared. If it isn’t here, where is it?”

“Considering how it appeared, there may have been a rift to the Digital World open in this general area.” Koushirou responded, still typing away. “It’s possible it went back through it and returned to the Digital World.”

“In which case we’ve got a different problem.” Taichi responded, crossing his arms as he considered this idea. “Passages to the Digital World just opening up unpredictably is never a good sign.”

Mimi sighed quietly at that and was about to add a response when a familiar beeping noise cut her off. All three Chosen looked to their Digivices, placing the sound immediately, the displays of their devices flashing red as they signaled an alert. “What is—“

A shadow fell across the three of them, prompting all to look up from their Digivice screens to see the skies darkening with storm clouds. The three of them shared a glance and then immediately began to run for the shelter of the locker rooms beneath the stands.

Then the stands exploded in a shower of metal.

Taichi realized he was on the ground before he actually felt anything, staring up at the hazy and rapidly darkening sky, and pain registered at about the same time as he felt two pairs of hands grabs his arms and begin pulling him backward. His face hurt and he could taste blood and distantly hoped it was just a split lip, and although he could hear Mimi’s voice making out words was impossible between his daze and the thunder now booming overhead.

He was laid back down on the ground less than a minute later, head pounding but sounds beginning to come in more clearly, and once again it was Mimi’s voice that rang through even if he only caught the end of her sentence.

“—signal!” 

“Just like before.” Koushirou responded, voice quiet and rushed. “If we just stay low, then—“

There was the screeching, crunching sound of metal twisting somewhere nearby, although Taichi couldn’t place the direction, and his view darkened suddenly. He couldn’t immediately figure out why, wondering distantly if he was losing consciousness—was he that badly hurt?—but realized after a moment that no, his vision was actually clearing; he was just in shadow because Mimi and Koushirou had both leaned over him, probably to protect him from any more shrapnel—

Anxiety jolted through him, bringing everything further into focus and cutting through the fog in his mind, but his fears were calmed a moment later as Koushirou spoke again; clearly neither he or Mimi were hurt in whatever had happened, his voice strained but calm. “We can’t do anything here, and if we stay we’ll just be caught in the destruction.”

“Right.” Mimi agreed, her eyes hardening in determination, and she looked down at Taichi; her gaze met his, and he could see the surprise register on her face for a moment. “Taichi-san! Are you okay?”

Koushirou looked down as well and Taichi didn’t miss the look of relief that crossed his expression, but he soon looked away again toward, presumably, whatever had attacked them. The Gigadramon, Taichi assumed, but he had yet to see it himself. He could hear it though, he thought, but maybe that was the thunder.

He nodded a little, the motion causing him to grimace as he realized once again that his face—or really his whole head—hurt, but it wasn’t enough this time to prevent him from shifting to begin propping himself up on his arms. “Yeah, Mimi-chan, I’m okay. What the hell’s going on?”

“We found the Gigadramon.” Koushirou answered the question, tone utterly dry and his gaze still focused somewhere above them and off to Koushirou’s right.

“It seems a lot less shy this time, too.” Mimi added, her voice more concerned, reaching out to help Taichi sit up the rest of the way as Koushirou shifted back a little to give them room. Now no longer lying down and shielded by his friends, Taichi realized how much of a storm had picked up; the wind was whipping Mimi’s long hair around, and an unpleasant mix of rain and snow was beginning to fall. “It just keeps circling.”

Taichi turned his gaze toward the sky, squinting the direction Koushirou was looking, and sure enough he could make out the shape of the Gigadramon above; it was further away than he expected but still surely able to see them. His first thought was for them to make a break for it before the monster had a chance to get closer, but where exactly were they supposed to go? If they ran back into the campus and the Digimon followed them they’d be putting others at risk, but then again they couldn’t just stay here; even if the Gigadramon were to suddenly decide to ignore them, it would be dangerous enough staying on the field while surrounded by debris and a rapidly intensifying storm.

Koushirou was apparently considering the same issue of what to do next, which was no surprise as far as Taichi was concerned, and it was also no surprise that he came up with an idea first. “If it’s after us, then it’ll just pursue us wherever we try to hide unless we lose it completely. If one of us can distract it then the other two may be able to hide successfully, one at a time, although that leaves the last person to have to evade the Gigadramon without any help.” Which he sounded dubious about at best, although Taichi was far less so.

“Great, yeah, it’s a plan. Mimi, you’re first, get going.” Taichi declared, affecting some false confidence and jerking his thumb in a gesture back toward the campus. 

“What? Me? Why?” Mimi asked in protest, although some of the effect of her indignant protest was lost by her hair smacking her in the face again; still, she just shoved it out of the way and was undeterred.

“Because you’re going to be slowest; have you seen your shoes?” Taichi asked in response, and although his tone made it clear he wasn’t budging on this the comment was still affectionate. Unfortunately, that was still not enough to convince Mimi to leave her friends, her eyebrows furrowing in frustration.

“I’ll just take them off!” She said, as though this were a completely reasonable course of action in the middle of winter, with shards of metal scattered about and a storm brewing as a giant Digimon circled overhead.

That was, of course, one of the things that made Taichi remember why he was so proud to have her as a part of the team.

But he was the leader and this was the right call to make, and he wasn’t backing down. “Mimi-chan, just go, okay? Try to get to Building 18.” It wasn’t too far, but far enough and surrounded by several other buildings; if he and Koushirou could keep the Gigadramon’s attention while she ran, then it would never be able to guess which building she’d gone into.

Mimi still didn’t look convinced, chewing on her lip a moment, eyebrows remaining furrowed and her eyes narrowed, but finally she nodded. “Okay. Ready when you are.” She glanced at Taichi and then toward Koushirou, then back with a firm nod.

Koushirou rose to his feet, and so did Mimi, and for a moment Taichi wasn’t placing why. Then it snapped together for him, and suddenly he didn’t like this plan as much as he’d previously thought. But before he could protest, the sound of Gigadramon’s roar came from above them; the Digimon wasn’t diving for them just yet, but it was definitely circling more and more closely.

“Stay there, Taichi; I’m just going to make sure its attention stays on us instead of Mimi-san.” Koushirou explained, apparently reading the meaning for Taichi’s hesitation and taking the opportunity to reassure him before he could actually say anything. And before Taichi could ask the next question that came to mind, that was being answered as well; Koushirou’s phone lit up with a bright flashlight, which appeared even more striking in the storm-caused darkness. 

Mimi cast a last concerned glance at her friends and then began slowly backing off toward the exit of the arena while Koushirou went in the opposite direction, maybe twenty feet further into the field; satisfied that Mimi was making her escape, Taichi turned his full attention toward Koushirou. He wasn’t sure what exactly his friend was planning—again, no big surprise—but had full confidence in him, although that didn’t make him less worried as he watched Koushirou pace in seemingly randomly directions, his flashlight making it clear where he was despite the worsening storm. 

Taichi’s face stung from the ice and wind, but then he realized it was also stinging for another reason; right, he was still hurt. Which also explained, belatedly, why he was still sitting down, and he was suddenly a little concerned he might have a concussion or something. But he could worry about that later, and he cast a glance over his shoulder; there was no sight of Mimi, and the Gigadramon was still—

Another deafening roar rang out and Taichi whipped his head back around, making the world spin hazily for a moment, and his vision cleared just in time for Koushirou to haul him to his feet; without a moment’s hesitation the younger man was pulling him rapidly to the side, out of the path of the suddenly diving Gigadramon.

The Digimon missed them, at least in regards to physical contact; it slammed hard enough to the ground that it caused the earth to shake, grass and dirt flinging into the air along with scattered remnants of destroyed metal stands, and the force knocking both chosen to the ground. Taichi spat out dirt, the ache in his face and head renewed, but he wasn’t as dazed as he expected to be and caught sight of the Gigadramon’s tail slithering across the ground for a moment before it disappeared as it took flight once again. Shoving himself up to his hands and knees, he knew there would only be a few seconds before the Gigadramon would be high enough for another attack, and that was time that Koushirou needed to be taking advantage of in order to make his own escape from the field.

But although Koushirou was also sitting up, Taichi knew immediately that there was something off in how he was moving; it took a little longer to place what, exactly, but then the still-going flashlight on Koushirou’s phone glinted off the shard of metal sticking out of the shoulder of Koushirou’s coat. 

“Koushirou—“ Taichi barely had his friend’s name out before Koushirou’s gaze had snapped toward his, and although it didn’t completely alleviate his worry—not by a long shot—it did reassure him a little how clear and focused his friend’s eyes were.

“It’s just my coat.“ Koushirou’s voice was similarly steady, if rushed, as he looked toward his shoulder where the spike was still jammed; he might’ve gotten away with the lie if, despite the wind and frozen rain and the sound of the Gigadramon, Taichi hadn’t been able to hear the faint undertone to Koushirou’s voice that indicated he wasn’t as fine as he claimed.

But he also clearly wasn’t seriously hurt, and Taichi gritted his teeth and realized they could argue about this after they avoided getting killed by the Gigadramon’s next attempt. And there was something wrong, nagging in Taichi’s brain, but he hadn’t yet placed what it was and didn’t have time to think about it as he lurched ungracefully to his feet. Koushirou stood up next to him, and although Taichi reached out to help him if he needed it Koushirou still seemed to be the steadier of the two of them, even if his expression was tense with a mix of concentration, concern, and pain. 

Taichi shifted his attention to try to catch sight of the Gigadramon again, shielding his eyes against the increasing sleet, but before he could figure out where the Digimon was he heard Koushirou speak up again.

“It went after you.”

Taichi once again regretted turning his head so quickly, but that was the least of his concerns as he stared at his friend. Koushirou had, once again, put together the pieces before he had, but that was what had been nagging at him; the Gigadramon had dove for him, not Koushirou, who had been trying to keep its attention with the light. 

But why?

But they could figure that out later. For now, it provided Taichi a great excuse to be the last person in their little plan. “Then I’ll keep its attention. Go join Mimi-chan, and I’ll be right behind you.”

Koushirou’s eyebrows furrowed immediately as he turned his attention toward Taichi, and the look that crossed his face was one Taichi had seen several times. He knew immediately that he’d already lost, which was not something Taichi enjoyed, but part of being a good leader was knowing when not to waste time fighting a losing battle. So Koushirou didn’t have to respond before Taichi amended his statement. “Or not. We’ll go together.”

“We need to find somewhere to go where it will lose sight of you, and not destroy a building trying to find you again.” Koushirou responded, the previous expression gone and replaced with the focused determination that was more common. 

“We can try the rugby field, but that’s our best shot.” And, ultimately, it would probably be a repeat of what just happened, but they didn’t really have any other options. They couldn’t lead the Gigadramon further into campus, especially not if it was specifically focused on finding him; Taichi wasn’t about to put anyone in danger if he could help it.

The sleet was coming even harder than before, thunder booming overhead, and Koushirou’s gaze was turned upward; Taichi followed it, barely picking out the sight of the Gigadramon circling once again as Koushirou responded to the suggestion. “It’s worth a try. Are you okay to run?”

“We’ll find out, right?” Taichi responded immediately with a grin, trying to reassure his friend with his confidence, but again Koushirou was not having it. His eyes were dark and focused on the sky, lips pressed together in a thin line, and the only response Taichi received was a nod.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Taichi glanced back and forth, scoping out their path, but then something changed; it took a moment to realize that the wind was suddenly gone, the sky beginning to lighten as if the storm had been completely imaginary, and the two chosen were soon left staring at a cold but cloudless sky with the Gigadramon nowhere in sight.

Again, it was Taichi that finally spoke up first, eloquent as always—

“What the hell.”


End file.
